Display apparatus.



" No. 666,995. 4 Patented Ian. 29, mm.

B. s. ANNIS.

DISPLAY APPARATUS.

(Application filed Aug. 30, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Slioet I.

Witnesses 1 0 1 5 5 No. 666,995. Patented Ian. 29, I901.

4 B. S. ANNIS. DISPLAY APPARATUS.

(Application filed Aug.,30, 1900.1

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT Tries.

BURLEIGH S. ANNIS, OF WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT.

DISPLAY APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 666,995, dated January 29, 1901.

Application filed August 30, 1900- Serial No. 1 (N modem To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BURLEIGH S. ANNIS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Windsor, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Display Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to display or exhibiting apparatus in which a plurality of maps, charts, designs, engravings, or similar devices, samples of merchandise, &c., may be brought into view; and it has for one object the provision of an economical apparatus which may serve as a receptacle in which the display-sheets may be compactly mounted or stored without rolling or folding and which will also constitute a device whereby any one sheet may be instantly brought into view without in any way disturbing the other sheets or their mountings.

My invention furthermore includes a de vice whereby a number of sheets may be simultaneously withdrawn from their supports and simultaneously returned to their original position within a cabinet or similar receptacle.

Further objects in the invention reside in the organization of the several elements constituting the display apparatus in connection with various devices for retaining the individual sheets either in raised or lowered position, as will be hereinafter described, and as is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved display apparatus. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, showing the cabinet with the front wall removed. Fig. 3 is a trans verse section on line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4 4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the device whereby any number of sheets are returned to their normal position. Figs. 6 and 7 illustratethe manner in which the sheet-supporting bars are suspended in place in the cabinet, Fig. 6 being a side view of suchabar partly broken away, and Fig. 7 being a section on line 7 7, Fig. 6. Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the manner of securing the sheet-clamping bar in place in its support, Fig. 8 being a side view of a portion of said bar and Fig. 9 a section on tent or bar 32 held within the cabinet.

line 9 9, Fig. 8.- Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the upper portion of the cabinet corresponding to Fig. 3, but showing one of the sheets withdrawn from its point of support.

Referring to the drawings, my improved display apparatus consists in its preferred form of a suitable framework, consisting of the uprights 2O 20, united near their lower ends by a tie 21 and adapted to receive between them the cabinet C, which may be adjusted vertically between said frames and is guided therein by guide-blocks 22, secured to the side of the cabinet and adapted to ride in grooves 23 in the uprights 20. Thumbscrews 24, passing through slots 25 in the side frames, may be provided for clamping the cabinet in place between the uprights in any desired position.

Contained within the cabinet 0 are a series of display-sheets 27, each of which is preferably secured at its upper end to a bar 28, having its ends guided between strips 29 at the sides of the cabinet and each having arranged near its center a device for keeping said bar in raised position in the cabinet. This device is herein shown as a catch 30, made substantially in hook form, pivoted at 31 and adapted to engage a horizontally-disposed de- The catch 30 may also have an extension or branch 33 to receive one end of a cord 34, whereby said catch 30 may be disengaged from the bar 32 against the action of a spring 35, seated within the recess 28 of the bar 28.

The means which I preferably employ for securing each of the several display-sheets to its respective supporting-bars consists, substantially, of a clam ping-bar 36, pivoted near one end of said bar and adapted to enter a groove 37 for its entire length, so that the sheet may be clamped between the bottom of the groove and the bar, substantially as is shown in Fig. 7. The clamping-bar may be held in the supporting-bar in any desirable manner; but I preferably employ a springcatch 38, formed at the free end of the clamping-bar 36 and adapted to engage a shoulder 39 in the bar 28, so that when it is desired to remove the sheet from its supporting-bar it will only be necessary to force the spring portion 38 inward, when the clamping-bar 36 can be swung downward and out of the groove 37. From the foregoiugit will he understood that each of the several sheets may be readily removed and another sheet substituted therefor, so that the cabinet containing a nu mherofthese devices maybe utilized for em hibiting designs of entirely different characters and that each individual sheet maybe withdrawn from its point of support at will.

Means are provided whereby any number of sheets which may have been lowered may be returned to their normal orsuspended position, these means being operative at the same time to return said sheets simultaneously, so that no matter how many of the display-sheets are in their lowered positions, yet all of them will be raised together. To this end I provide a movable member, preferably consisting of a slide 41, having two heads 40, each of which has a projection 42 for receiving the lower end of a band 43, secured thereto. The heads 40 are of such width as to permit all of the bars to be engaged by the u pper surfaces of said heads, so that when said slide is raised such of the bars as are in their lowered position will be raised by said slide simultaneously,and in order to have both heads of the slide 41 move in unison their operatingbands are secured with their upper ends to a roller 44, which may be of the ordinary spring-actuated type and which normally tends and is of suffieient strength to raise said slide and all of the bars resting thereon. The upward movement of the bar-raising member is limited and checked by buffers 45, secured in the cabinet and in position to be engaged by the extensions 40 of the heads. It will therefore be seen that when any one of the display-sheets is released from the retaining-bar 32 and lowered the slide 41 will be lowered therewith, as is clearly shown in Fig. 10, and when said sheet has been lowered to the limit the movement of the slide may be checked by stops 46, secured to the under side of the cabinet and in the path of the heads 40 within guideways 47.

The bar-raising member may be retained in its lowermost position by a suitable detentas, for instance, by a dog 48, pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 49, and actuated bya spring 50 to force the lower end thereof into the path of one of the heads, which during its descent will force its way past the dog, as will be readily understood. The several charts or designs may be distinguished for the purpose of selection by tags or similar marks contained within handles 51, which will serve at the same time as ameans for releasing the particular chart selected from the retaining-bar 32.

Atlhough it is evident that the cabinet containing the charts and the devices for manipulating the same may he closed on all sides and at the top, yet I prefer to leave the front thereof open and to close said opening by a suit-able cover or door, and in the present instance I have illustrated a pair of doors 52 and 53, each corresponding in size to that of the opening in the cabinet and adapted to be folded or swung inward one over the other, while their exposed sides when opened may serve the purpose of blackboards, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. By this construction I am enabled to open out the entire front of the cabinet, and thus expose to view the displaysheets contained therein, while at the same time any one sheet in the cabinet may be displayed below the cabinet, as may be desired.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings constitutes a portable device which may be easily condensed or collapsed for shipment; but while I have shown the cabinet adjustably held in a suitable framework it is evident that said cabinet may be bodily removed therefrom and supported orsecured to a wall without in any way affecting its utility.

Many changes maybe made in the particular construction of some of the elements of the device and yet come within the scope of my invention. Therefore I do not limit myself to the use of the especial details shown and described-as, for instance, the method of securing the sheets to their supporting-bars or the particular construction of the mechanism for lowering and raising the sheets.

This apparatus is especially adapted to the protection and manipulation of maps and charts in the school-room or on the lectureplatform. It may also be employed for dis playing pictures, engravings, samples of merchandise, &c., in fiat form. A large number of sheets may be stored in compact form in this cabinet without the necessity of rolling them, while any individual sheet may instantly be brought into view without disturbing any of the other sheets.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a plurality of independently-movable flat display-sheets; and with means for retaining each of said sheets in elevated position; of a member movable by any one sheet and sustaining the same when released from the retaining means; and means for normally returning said member and the lowered sheet to their elevated position.

2. The combination, with a plurality of independently-movable flat display-sheets; and means for retaining each of said sheets in elevated position; of a member movable by any one sheet and sustaining the same when released from the retaining means; and means for locking said member in its lowered position.

3. The combination, witha plurality of independentlymovable display sheets, each having a spring-actuated catch; of a detent for engaging said catches and for retaining said sheets in elevated position; means for releasing and lowering each sheet individually; and a device movable by any one sheet and for sustaining the same when released catch; of a detent adapted to be engaged by I 5 said catches; means for lowering each sheet individually; and means for raising any nu mber of lowered sheets.

6. The combination, with a plurality of independentlymovable display sheets; of a movable member for raising any number of sheets; a spring actuated roller connected with and for raising said member; and means for retaining said member in lowered position.

BURLEIGH S. ANNIS. Witnesses:

GEO. G. HATCH, FRED A. BROWN. 

